Today is deadline for filing income tax

If you are watching this newscast and have just realized that you have not filed your income tax yet, hey I am sorry to inform you that it’s already too late. Today was the last day for all workers to file their personal returns. According to the supervisor of the technical section at the Income Tax Department, Kent Clare, business has been brisk.

Kent Clare, Supervisor, Technical Section, Income Tax Dept.

“Extremely busy. We imagine that our people are going to be here until late tonight.”

Jacqueline Woods

“I know usually around this time people, for some reason or the other, do not file. What’s the penalty for late filing?”

Kent Clare

“Well first of all, we need to make it clear that you need to file only in situations where you have a balance owing, because the possibilities are that you might have a refund due. If you have a refund due, you don’t have to file, you can leave the money with us, no problem. Actually, you have like six years in which to claim that refund. But if you have a balance owing, you need to file that by today and make arrangements to pay it off, hopefully by the end of today. If you don’t file, the late filing penalty is three percent per month for every month that you’re late.”

Jacqueline Woods

“Why do people file late?”

Kent Clare

“I think a lot of it, in terms of employees, a lot of it has to do with ignorance. There are hardly, in our minds, instances of trying to evade taxes and so on. It has a lot to do with the fact that they are not aware of these dates, even though we have new guides that we have published and we have done stuff over the radio. In some instances, it has to do with their employers not getting their forms prepared and giving the employees the information that they need to file their returns. So in most instances, it’s either of the two.”

Meanwhile, employers should have already filed statements on behalf of their workers.